Finance, at the heart of corporate strategy

Finance, at the heart of corporate strategy

“Going from being a business partner to a business maker”

The CFO is tasked with overseeing corporate strategy, with a growing influence on the business. As a result, finance must look outside the department and support the various other areas of the business. Optimising performance requires greater cross-company cooperation. In the digital age, real-time information sharing is key to growing the company and offers a clear competitive advantage.

Knocking down the walls between line and support

There is no longer any logic for companies to have separate silos. Take for example the quest for cash where the sales and finance teams are involved at all stages of the customer relationship: knocking down the walls between line and support makes it possible to connect these units. A new application of the “open space” concept made possible by new technologies. By facilitating sharing, an integrated IT system changes how people work together and helps spread the cash culture. Gone are the days of manual or paper-based processes!

Reducing dependence on Excel

In an environment complicated by ever longer payment terms, the CFO isn’t there to identify late payments. He must use technological innovation to stay on top of the company’s strategic plan. How? Primarily by becoming a leader in predictive analysis, by anticipating customer behaviour, while reducing his dependence on Excel.

With Big Data, the digital revolution provides the finance department with a wealth of data with which to stay on top of business trends and help with decision-making. But, it isn’t by producing endless reports that the CFO will become the lynchpin of corporate strategy… To make sense of the data, he needs a high level overview, coming face to face with the issues faced by other departments. He must provide an efficient service that can respond to the business needs of the other departments. He must go from being a business partner to a business maker.

Anticipating business

It is through daily contact with the other departments that the CFO can identify the most relevant indicators to add to shared dashboards. The implementation of flexible cloud-based solutions allows him to share data, identify problems in real-time and decide on the best course of action in response. By reacting quickly to critical situations, he safeguards the business.

It has now become more urgent to take another approach, to grow the business thanks to technological innovation and to look afresh at the role of the CFO. The executive committee expects the CFO to support the overall strategy with up-to-date financial data, to allow sound decisions to be made on the basis of fact rather than opinion.

As we approach 2016, do we still need to convince CEOs that technology and business are inextricably intertwined?